So far this series has spoken about the different social media tools that are available, how they work and where they potentially integrate into a business. In the last part of the series I’ll look at the strategies that you should go about applying social media in your business and then round off with some conclusions.

The first point to remember is that social media does not replace the need for a web site or any of your existing online marketing. It is designed to supplement and enhance these. Your web site is still typically the central place that you market your business. It tells prospects about how you can help them specifically. Think of it like a digital brochure.

Before you dive head long into social media stop and ask yourself what you are trying to achieve? In short, determine your goals. What do you want social media to achieve for your business? Do you want it to generate more sales? Better customer service? Or improved exposure for your business? If you don’t know what you are seeking to achieve how will you ever achieve it? Thus, the most important step in the process of utilizing social media for your business is to define you goals up front.

The secret to successful social media (and with most other things in business) is consistency. Once you start using social media you must continue to use it on a regular basis. Nothing looks worse than something that hasn’t been used for months. I’m sure you’ve seen blogs and Twitter accounts that haven’t been updated for months and months. Nothing looks worse does it? This means you need to incorporate your social media strategy into your daily businesses processes. Determine how often you can post things to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and then ensure you do that. Consistency is the key to success.

Just as importantly for business success is to measure the results of social media. Most of the platforms (especially YouTube) provide inbuilt metrics. If not then there are plenty of third party tools out there that you can use to measure the success and impact of what you are doing. As they say, if you can’t measure it then perhaps you should not be doing it. Track what works and what doesn’t, then adjust and improve what does. Remember, social media is not something that you can generally set and forget, you’ll need to adjust it over time.

The final piece of advice that I’ll provide in this series before signing off comes from Seth Godin and I think it is very important that you heed what he says in this video about social media.

I hope that you have received benefit from this series of blog posts on social media in business I have created. I’d encourage you to connect with me via all the services that I have mentioned here. Most of these you’ll find on my web site (www.ciaops.com) in the bottom left of the home page. Alternatively, you can always send me a good ‘ole email (director@ciaops.com) as well.

There is so much more information, strategy and tactics I am able to share about social media in business and I hope to do that either upcoming blog posts, however if you’d like to speak with me directly about social media in your business or perhaps like me to present to a group of interested people, again just contact me.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read what I write and I look forward to seeing your business out there in social media-verse generating success.